Greening Australia recognised for community contribution during flood

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 - Greening Australia works with communities to restore and protect Australia's landscapes

Greening Australia at Norman Park was awarded a certificate of appreciation by local MPs last week in recognition of its contribution to the community during the recent floods.

State member for Bulimba, Di Farmer and Morningside councillor, Shayne Sutton presented the award to Greening Australia on Wednesday January 2nd, for their efforts in preparing sandbags for local residents.

Greening Australia Chief Executive, Sean Willans said it was “fantastic to have both our local members of parliament show up to the office to thank the team for all the work in helping people prepare for the floods”.

Di Farmer visited the team on the day of the sandbagging and said she was amazed at what the team achieved in such a short time.

Ms Farmer commented that the help “massively reduced the pressure on the depot stations which had some people waiting for up to nine hours in queues and was a fantastic service to the community”.

“However it was only possible to achieve what we did due to the amazing support we had from the local community coming and helping out,” said Mr Willans “We were amazed at the amount of people that just turned up off the streets to help out”.

Within minutes of opening their doors on the morning of the flood, January 12, Greening Australia’s carpark was inundated with hundreds of people wanting to protect their homes or offering to pick up a shovel and help out.

Staff and community volunteeers worked tirelessly all day bagging 63 cubic metres of sand – a total of 4850 bags.

“Many had the day off work and wanted to get in and do what they could to support the community,” said Mr Willans.

The local community pitched in where they could, including Major Cuts Butchery at Morningside who donated 9kg of sausages to help feed volunteers and Four Squares Stores at Cannon Hill, donating 30 litres of soft drink.

Xstrata Coal Queensland, McGuire's Hotels, Carina Leagues Club and Stockland also made contributions to help buy and bag more sand.

ENDS

Contact Profile

Greening Australia works with communities to restore and protect Australia's landscapes

Greening Australia is passionate about protecting and restoring the health, diversity and productivity of our unique Australian landscapes. Lainie GriggP: 07 3902 4427W:www.greeningaustralia.org.au

Keywords

Greening Australia at Norman Park was awarded a certificate of appreciation by local MPs last week in recognition of its contribution to the community during the recent floods.